A painting handed down at Joshoji, the principal Zen temple in the Kiso region of Nagano prefecture, is a rare work that presents the entire appearance of Putuoshan mountain, a site famous as the center of Guanyin worship in China. More than eighty landmarks are designated in the painting, and each of their names are noted on the picture plane, providing a detailed depiction of Putuoshan's appearance at the time of the painting's creation. The date of this painting can be judged from the use of the place name Qingyuanlu-Changguozhou. Present-day Ningbo was called Qingyuanlu, and the period in which Changguozhou was an area under its jurisdiction lasted from the 15th year of Zhiyuan (1278), at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty, until the 2nd year of Hongwu (1369) at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. Thus this work would have been created some time during this approximately ninety year period. In fact, as the landmarks seen in the painting accord with those noted in such Yuan period documents as the Dadechangguozhoutuzhi (1298 preface) and the Putuoluojiashanchuan (1361 preface), dating based solely on the use of place names is also consistent with this approximately ninety year period. If we note that one of the famous landmarks of the Yuan dynasty, namely the Duobaota stupa, is not depicted in this image, we can then further narrow the period of this painting's production to the approximately fifty year period that formed the first half of the Yuan dynasty. This painting depicts two images of Guanyin, one Guanyin or Avalokiteśvara seated within a large circle attended by Sudhana Śreşţhidaraka and Śerşţhin Yuegai, and Avalokiteśvara on a Lotus Petal within the Chaoyindong Cave. It is noteworthy that neither of these two images of the deity is shown in the so-called White-Robed Avalokiteśvara form. Yishan Yining came to Japan in 1299 to spread the worship of the Putuoshan Guanyin, and as he was the chief priest at the Baotusi temple on Putuoshan for many years, we can consider that his tenure there may have overlapped with the period of the production of this painting. Thus these two images of Guanyin must be considered examples of the standard images of Guanyin that would have occurred in East Asia during the 14th century. The expression of the scene presented in this painting is closely related to the maps published in the local gazettes of the Song-Yuan dynasties. Such elements as the depiction of the patterned waves used to demarcate the ocean boundary, the mountains built up from an accumulation of triangular forms, the strong, angled outlines, and the notation of each landmark's name within a cartouche were clearly created in reference to the maps of the day. Further, the composition provides a depiction of the entirety of the scene in a realistic form that also finds its precedent in the maps of Xihu, created during the Southern Song dynasty. An image of this mountain, Putuoshantu, was originally published in the Dadechangguozhoutuzhi, but this image was lost at an early date. We might, however, consider that the strongest possibility for a source image for this painting lies in this map published in the Dadechangguozhoutuzhi. This painting was not a major work created by a mainstream painter from Chinese landscape painting history. Indeed, it is an example of a ready-made painting, one created by an anonymous painter. Given its depiction of Putuoshan, the destination of many pilgrims as a sacred site of Quanyin, there is the strong possibility that this painting was created as a high quality souvenir. And yet when we consider the history of the depiction of such scenes presented as if views of their actual sites, and when we consider the formative history of images of actual popular sites, we can see that this work is one of the few extant examples created from a blending of landscape painting and maps, and as such, has an unmistakable importance.
